MERRILL - A Northwoods wrestler is Madison bound. Merrill senior Tyler Schmidt has signed to wrestle collegiately with the Wisconsin Badgers.

Schmidt is the defending Division One state champion at 220 pounds.

He was also the Wisconsin Nationals runner up in Greco wrestling earlier this year.

He's also a 3.5 student and is interested in a degree in Nuclear Engineering.

Tyler had some interest with Northern Illinois at first. However once Wisconsin called - he had to be a Badger.

"The academics and the way the campus is spread out," Schmidt says is what led to him choosing Wisconsin. "They're one of the beter programs in the nation. I'm just glad to be wrestling for them."

"Tyler is a big guy who wrestles like a small guy," Merrill head coach Scott Arneson explains. "He brings it. He goes out and tries to pin people. We love it because he is dangerous when he wrestles. Madison liked the fact he did do some extra summer wrestling. He placed second at Nationals. He's been at the higher level and compete at the high level."

State election officials announced Friday that 89 percent of total ballots cast for president have been counted and 60 of the state's 72 counties had finished their work. So far, Democrat Hillary Clinton has gained 49 votes on Republican Donald Trump, who defeated Clinton by more than 22,000 votes in

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